Berties Bush Recipes

Australia & New Zealand Homebrewing Forum

Help Support Australia & New Zealand Homebrewing Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

pdilley

Well-Known Member
Joined
1/3/09
Messages
1,393
Reaction score
31
A bit of a mixed bag to keep things interesting.

Commercial cordials are sweet and bland and soft drinks today are fizzy and flavourless. Only homemade drinks still taste of sun and fruit and summer.

Soft Drink Beers

Ginger beer was made by many bush children, with memories of bottles exploding all over the laundry, so always use corks instead of screw tops or crown seals. Today most people don't use as much sugar as back then so the brews are not as alcoholic. Back then the kids got mildly drunk off a weeks brew. Other 'beers' are as good as the ol' classic ginger beer or even better! If you don't care to make a plant (just captured wild yeast) then just using baking/bread yeast instead.

Note: Substitution of pale honeys is ok for sugar in these recipes if you keep bees or have a modern health kick going on.

Fizzy lemonade

Take three cups of strained lemon juice and the grated zest of six lemons -- make sure there is no white pith or the lemonade will end up cloudy. Bring it to the boil with one cup of sugar and nine cups of water.

When it is tepid add a teaspoon of dry yeast. Put the lid on the pan and leave for 48 hours and then bottle. Let the pressure out every day (use corks not screw tops). This should be ready in about one week to drink. If it is not fizzy or it is too sweet wait a few more days before deciding to pitch more yeast.

Ginger beer

2 cups sugar
4 lemons
16 cups water
1 tablespoon grated ginger
1 teaspoon of dried yeast

Slice the lemons (unpeeled) and boil them with the ginger until they are soft. Cool to tepid temperature, then add the yeast and the sugar. Leave the lot site for 48 hours. Bottle. Release the pressure every day. The beer should be ready in a week. If it tastes too sweet let it for a few more days before drinking.

Passionfruit beer

Take the pulp of 10 passionfruit, add four cups of water and a third of a cup of sugar. Boil, strain, and when it is tepid temperature add a teaspoon of dried yeast. Process as with fizzy lemonade above.

Cordials

Cordials used to be taken 'for your health' as well as for the taste -- to build up strength after an illness or for a queasy stomach. It is only with commercialisation that cordial has become 'just another sweetened drink'.

Cherry essence

Boil one kilogram of unstoned cherries with one kilogram of sugar and the juice of six lemons, with as little water as possible and prevent burning as much as possible for half an hour. Bottle and seal. This will be jam-like.

Mix a spoonful with water to a paste, then add the liquid gradually. It makes an excellent cordial, a good keeper, and is worth the trouble to make.

Cherry cordial

Take equal weights of dark red cherries and sugar. Crush the cherries and their stones. Add the sugar. Leave overnight. Strain through a clean cloth. Keep in the fridge until needed. The finely grated rind of a lime or lemon is a great addition to this drink.

Eliza Acton's portable lemonade

Grate the zest of a lemon -- no pith at all. Add an equal amount of castor sugar and the strained juice of the lemon. Keep it in a sealed jar in a cool place, and add water as needed. In hot summer it still may only last a week although it keeps much longer in a fridge or in winter.

Green ice

lemon or lime zest
castor sugar

Rub the zest off six limes and six lemons with a fine grater. THe peel should be so fine it is almost liquid with no pith at all. Add an equal amount of sugar. Mix well and seal.

After a few days the mix will be semi-liquid and oily. Use a dessertspoon in cold water as a cordial. Add to cakes, or biscuits instead of lemon juice or essence.

Green ice keeps for months in a sealed container. Once opened it should be stored in the fridge or used all at once.

Lime juice syrup

1 kilogram sugar
2 cups lime juice
2 cups water
white of one egg

Beat the egg white until stiff. Combine egg white, sugar and water and still until sugar is dissolved. Bring to the boil then remove from the heat until it stops bubbling and then bring to a second boil.

Skim off any scum very rigorously or your juice may start to ferment. Add the lime juice once the liquid has cooled to bottles and seal. Kept in the fridge it should last a year.

Monstera deliciosa cordial

Monsterias are delicious but bristly. Take the pulp and add an equal amount of water, bring to the boil, and leave until cool and then sieve. Add an equal amount of sugar then boil for ten minutes. Bottle once cooled and seal. Keep in the fridge especially in hot weather.

Mulberry vinegar

Makes a wonderful drink. You need mulberries, sugar and vinegar. Mash the mulberries and squeeze out their juice. Add an equal volume of sugar and a teaspoon of red wine vinegar per cup of juice. Boil for ten minutes until it begins to coat the back of a spoon. Take off the heat, cool, bottle and seal.

Keep in the fridge. Add a dessertspoon of cordial for every glass of iced water. Or pour a spoonful over a glass of cracked or shaved ice.

Orange syrup

Grate the zest off of a couple of oranges (no pith). It will be thick and oily and float to the top of the bottles which seals them.

Juice some oranges and strain well. Add equal volume of sugar to the juice and bring to the boil. Then let cool, and bottle. Cover the juice with the zest and keep in the fridge. Add an equal amount of water to make a drink.

Passionfruit cordial

Take two cups of sugar, half a cup of water and one cup of passionfruit pulp. Boil the water and sugar for five minutes. Pour in the pulp and add a dessertspoon of citric acid. Stir well, and bottle once cooled. Keep in the fridge after opening or if kept more than six months.

Passionfruit fizz

Add the juice of three limes to the Passionfruit cordial recipe and a dash of bitters. Serve with soda water.

Pomegranate cordial

Scoop out the seedy pomegranate centre. Add an equal amount of castor sugar and leave in a jar for three weeks. By then the sugar has drawn out all the red juice. Strain, bottle and keep in the fridge. Use a dessertspoon to a glass of cold water or pour it over cracked or shaved ice.

Rose syrup

Rose petals
sugar
lemon juice
water

Take a pan of rose petals, the more perfumed the better. Just cover with water and bring to the boil and when boiling take off the heat at once. Leave overnight. Mash the petals into a gruel with fingers and strain. Add an equal volume of sugar to the water and a squeeze of lemon juice. Simmer until the mixture coats the back of a spoon. Remove from heat, cool, bottle and seal.

Boozy mixes

Apple Cider


2 kilograms of uncored apples, small and tart if possible
3 litres of water
1 kilogram of sugar

Slice or grate apples, place in a bowl, cover with water and let sit a few days to begin fermentation. Let ferment for ten days and then strain. Add sugar to the juice, stirring until dissolved. Strain through a clean tea towel, bottle and leave uncorked for two weeks then seal after fermentation has stopped. Keep the bottles sealed for at least three months before drinking.

Kvass (beetroot)

Grate three cups of peeled beetroot then add six cups of warm water. Place in a clay jug and cover with a dry cloth. Leave in a warm place to ferment (three days to one week). This makes a drink suitable for anyone with a strong head.


Cheers,
Brewer Pete
 

Latest posts

Back
Top